Get your own Free Home Page[Tom's note (12/13/03): In fairness to Leta, she wrote this on February 19, 2003]
I’ve been quite remiss in reporting our birding adventures of late, however, a minor issue of moving 1500 miles must have monopolized my attention or something!
The day after Christmas, Tom and I headed down to the Texas Gulf Coast for a visit to my hometown of Alvin, plus we wanted to do some birding in Galveston while we were there. We got a late start that morning, spent quite a bit of time in Alvin, and then finally made it to Galveston Island State Park. The winter has been quite mild in Texas this year, as it usually is, however that afternoon, the wind was howling and it was downright frosty! Tom and I were not to be deterred however! We pressed on with the intent of finding some birds by golly!!
It was almost dusk and the park was virtually deserted. As we drove through the park, Tom spotted a bird sitting on a stump across a small area of water. As we got closer, we identified the bird as an osprey. The osprey appeared to be sitting on something on the stump, and was sorta picking at it. After closer inspection, we noticed the osprey had a fish under it and it was eating it with us watching. Shortly thereafter, it flew away with the fish in it’s talons. I have to admit, that was really a cool sight…sorta national geographic!
There were many birds that we could hear that evening, but as it was dusk, it was extremely hard to really see and identify most of them. There were several others that we were able to identify, and I knew if I didn’t get our report done, I would end up forgetting them, and darned if I didn’t! I’ll have to make an addendum to this report later.
The first week of January Tom and I headed out of Austin in two moving trucks bound for Jackson, Michigan. Tom with Penny, the dog riding shotgun, and I with Oscar, the cat, having complete reign of the cab of my truck, struck out for the long trip ahead! Before the trip began, when we realized that we were going to have to take two trucks instead of one, Tom had outfitted both trucks with walkie talkies so that we could keep in touch for safety’s and convenience sake, and also so that we could alert the other to any birds we saw along the way! As we drove, it was really fun to check out the trees and fence posts along the highway looking for birds. We saw many hawks along the way, particularly between Little Rock, Arkansas and Memphis, Tennessee. Though we couldn’t identify the type of hawk, it was still really cool to see these magnificent creatures!
After arriving in Michigan, the moving process actually began. Tom had been lucky enough to attract quite a woodpecker following at the house he was moving from. We were both a bit concerned about what would happen to the woodpeckers who normally frequented his feeders after he moved. On the morning that we packed up and cleaned up and were leaving the old house, Tom found a dead red-bellied woodpecker in the front yard. It was a sad ending to an enjoyable time of feeding and watching the woodpeckers at that location.
Though we have had little time over the past month to do much birdwatching, it hasn’t been too far from our minds, and I know we both are “chomping at the bits” to get out and do some! One day we took a break from our moving chores and headed out to Dahlem Center for their “Winter Fest”. We had noticed some programming that interested us….Sled Dogs….and….Attracting Birds to Your Backyard. It was bitterly cold that day, and thankfully the programs were held inside in the warmth! Both programs were quite interesting and informative. After the programs, we went to the observation window that Dahlem has and watched the birds from there. We saw approximately 11 or 12 different species in a very short period of time…everything from dark eyed juncos, those lovely snowbirds…..to several kinds of woodpeckers. As we were sitting watching the birds in the warm confines of the center, one of the volunteers told us that someone had just called in and reported seeing a bald eagle at a location southeast of town. Tom and I both looked at each other, and though we knew it was a longshot…heck it was next to impossible…. we headed out to look for the bald eagle!!! We didn’t find the eagle, but we had a great late afternoon drive! We were able to observe a large hawk on our way back into town. We were driving down Seymour Road and saw something low and swooping in a wooded area just off the roadway. Tom pulled over and slowly we pulled the car around a barn type structure and up in the tree sat this majestic hawk! We watched it for awhile and it watched us! It flew a very short distance and perched and watched us again! It was an interesting observation on all of our parts I’m sure.
I can’t wait for our next birding adventure…and though it seems that spring is far away, it’s right around the corner, and I can’t wait for all of the birding opportunities that will come with it!
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